The ModelAutoRacing.com Sub-Article #1002-

Feeding and Carefor your Resin Body

By Ray Stankewitz

Douglas Haynes of Resilient Resins was kind enough to pass this along for the preparation of the Resilient Resin body:

"I try to cast these shells as thin and light as possible. Casting is more like an art than a science. Each casting is slightly different. There's a fine line between nice and thin and too thin. There always seems to be a couple air bubbles and thin spots. I try to fix these flaws before sending them out".

"The mold release agent may resist paint. I recommend that you wash your body shell with soap and water. I would also recommend sealing the resin with clear lacquer (Testors Glosscote) before beginning the application of primer and paint".

"Sealing the body with clear lacquer serves three purposes. First, it seals any residual mold release agent into the body. This helps eliminate the "fish eye" problem during painting".

"Second, it actually soaks into the resin and changes it a little. It does not create a shell of laquer as you might imagine. Resilient Resins shells have a softer finish than the type of resin most commonly used for bodies. With a coat of laquer, the surface becomes harder and more "plastic-like" to work with".

"Finally, the coat of laquer gives the primer and paint something to "bite" into. If you just apply primer/paint directly to the resin... you'll find that often it will not adhere... that you can take your fingernail and scrape the paint off in flakes. This third purpose is perhaps the most important".

"Regarding Painting: I don't use model paints much these days. They have gotten too expensive in the last couple of years and I've come to prefer painting with lacquer... it dries so much faster. So, I use automotive rattle can "touch up" paint... from the auto parts store. Model enamels and R/C paint should also work O.K., once the resin is sealed and primed".

"After sealing the resin with Testors' Glosscote, I then use Plasticote's Sandable Primer... white... as an undercoat/primer".

"I like to give the painted body a couple of coats of Glosscote... to protect the paint and seal down the decals. Do not apply any brush-on paint.. especially water base flat paint... until after the clear coat. The clear will disolve such paint. So flat black and silver trim paint go on last".

"Attaching windshields: There are a couple of different methods of attaching the windshields... glue or "rivets"".
"Resilient Resins body shells usually have a lip or edge that separates the cockpit tray from the outer body. The procedure is fairly obvious. Just trim away the excess windshield material and carefully fit the lower edge to the contour of the lip, Then glue".

"The adhesive I use is a WHITE LIGHTNING product labeled "50 year TRIPOLYMER SEALENT ", "CLEAR" "PREMIUM SILICONIZED ACRYLIC LATEX SEALANT"....SKU (stock keeping unit) = SKU WL05010 (10 oz.). This comes in large tubes, like silicone caulking... and is found in home improvement stores. The glue comes out of the tube as a white, opaque, creamy calk and cures clear - the thicker, the longer... 1 hour? I've had success squirting a little blob on a plastic lid and applying (w/a toothpick) a bead at the bottom and inner 1/32" of the windshield. The tricky part has been the first placement w/tweezers, but once it is well cured, I've been able to slit and peel off any of the unwanted over-glueing. You can do a little tuning and tweeking, including holding a warped condition in place using some holding mechanism until cured enough, dabbing added latex into low spots in the mating area, and building up fragile contact points".

"Another method is to "rivet" the windshield on. This requires leaving a 1/16" flange along the bottom of the windshield. Then just trim the horizontal material up to the bottom of where it goes vertical. Then they use regular straight pins through the flange and into the body... like rivets. The pin heads would need some reduction... to make it look scale".

"If you wish to reinforce your body shell for racing, repair a crack, or attach body mounting hardware, I recommend that you use DEVCON PLASTIC WELDER for this purpose. It can be found at Wal-Mart and stores of that type".

(I found this adhesive at Tap Plastics...Ed.)

"Regarding Warpage: It's not a serious problem to fix warpage. Here's how to do it: Fill a pan or large bowl with hot water. A hot as you can stand to put your hands in... not scalding hot. Submerge the body for 30 seconds. Then remove the body... and adjust the alignment to eliminate the warpage with your hands. Then hold under the cool water faucet for about 15 seconds, until the body cools. It will hold the shape that you change it to. Repeat the process... if necessary... until you're happy with it".

I have to say that this is some extensive information, but you have to understand that this is coming from the guy that makes the bodies. You have to know that he has figured this out to a science/art.

I can say that Douglas Haynes has really done a good job of doing these instructions. it is not too often that you can get any information at all. My hat's off to you for giving us this valuable guide to the care and feeding of a Resilient Resin body!!